Root Beer for The Price of Water

The news that Southern California used car dealer Cal Worthington has died reminded me of something from when we were kids in Santa Ana in 1972.

One day a salesman came to the door and asked my mother how much we spent on bottled water every month. After she told him, he replied that for the same price, we could be drinking as much generic root beer as we wanted. My mother closed the door and my brothers and I looked at her like she must not have understood.

“Didn’t you hear? He said we could be drinking ROOT BEER for the price of water!”

Then she went back to my baby sister’s diapers, a phone call, or a nap. And we went back to Gilligan’s Island, Brady Bunch, and Cal Worthington and his dog Spot.